In Between Times 10-13-2022
Amazon moves to de-carbonize its fleet, Should the US have '5 or 6' major parties?, See the world's oldest tree, Racism in LA and "underpolitics"
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This might be the world’s oldest tree
New research “major step” toward perpetually recyclable plastic
The issue is first being able to break down plastics fully to molecule form. Then the issue becomes being able to build the plastics back up from the molecules. To date this hasn’t been possible. But some scientists in Colorado think they might have a way.
(From Circular)
CU Boulder says this is a major step in the development of repairable and fully recyclable network polymers, a particularly challenging material to recycle, as it is designed to hold its shape and integrity in extreme heat and other harsh conditions.
The study documents how this type of plastic can be perpetually broken down and remade, without sacrificing its desired physical properties, the research university says.
CU Boulder says the results also suggest that revisiting the chemical structures of other plastic materials could lead to similar discoveries of how to fully break down and rebuild their chemical bonds, enabling the circular production of more plastic materials in our daily lives.
Andrew Yang on Chris Cuomo’s new (more transpartisan) show: The U.S. should have 5 or 6 major political parties
“We have 2 minority parties, that are running everything, and driving us all crazy.”
Allsides.com :What does the LA City Council scandal reveal about race and politics? How important is “underpolitics”?
Your editor has a friend in downtown LA named Andre who also happens to be African American. Though we’ve never met in person we have long been pretty close to real friends online for many years. He was even nice enough to invite me to his wedding. (I couldn’t attend.)
It was on Andre’s Facebook profile that I remember having (mostly observing) a fairly difficult discussion on race that included maybe 2 handfuls of people about evenly split between Black folks and Hispanic folks and then me a White guy. The discussion was around how the Black and Hispanic communities interacted with each other politically in California. I mostly kept quiet and followed the conversation which was long and generally respectful. That is until one of Andre’s friends said, and it really stuck with me, “You can never trust the brown crackers”, meaning people of Latino descent. Then people got testy.
I had never heard the term “brown cracker”. I knew “cracker”, a derogatory term for White people. But I had never heard the term “brown cracker”.
As soon as I heard it though I knew it was an example of “underpolitics”, that is the politics that drives the nitty gritty but is not discussed openly.
Race is an area where underpolitics is particularly important and this troubling story from the LA City Council illustrates this clearly.
(From Allsides.com)
After the Los Angeles Times (Lean Left Bias) published quotations of a leaked audio from a redistricting meeting featuring three LA city council members in which now-ex council member Nury Martinez expressed racially disparaging comments about fellow council members and the LA community, a number of pieces have been published analyzing what the controversy reveals about race relations in America as well as the value of transparency is politics.
Key Quotes: An analysis in NBC News (Lean Left Bias) stated that “prejudice from Latino to Latino and Latino to other racial groups is not so uncommon.” One writer for the New York Times Opinion (Left Bias) voiced fears that “with the browning of America, white supremacy could simply be replaced by — or buffeted by — a form of ‘lite’ supremacy, in which fairer-skin people perpetuate a modified anti-Blackness rather than eliminating it.”
Though we would not use the words or tone of the NYT opinion writer there is something to what he or she says. Anyone who has been to Latin America for any length of time has seen it. Racism is much more prominent south of the border, at least in your editor’s experience (in multiple Latin American countries), than day to day in the USA. (Again in our experience.)
Another issue that is very much a matter of underpolitics, and is even more nuanced than inter-minority underpolitics is colorism. As I write this, “colorism” isn’t even recognized as a word by my spellchecker. But it is a word, and very real. I had no idea until I was in high school, that darker skinned people were often horribly discriminated against in many communities. This is true in India, in China, and it at least has been true in American non-white communities.
The only reason I know much about colorism at all is because I grew up in what was once called the most integrated large city in the US, Virginia Beach, and one of my Black classmates told me about it. He explained to me that many people thought Wesley Snipes was ugly because he was too dark. It struck me as bizarre. Such a thing had never occurred to me, in the slightest.
The scandal in LA exposes how complex the race issue can be, and how it is even more complex than many of us, many of us who make decisions in politics and business, realize. If this ugly episode can illuminate some of the subtleties of underpolitics then maybe be some good can come of it.
Or we could just treat EVERYONE regardless of what they look like with respect. We could always do that.
Inflation is running at the highest level in 40 years. Here’s how it breaks down.
David Brooks thinks that an “alternative candidate” is a good idea
In the attached article he sings the praises of No Labels, an organization founded by mostly center-left folks who are not fans of progressives and a smattering of former Republicans of mostly the Rockefeller variety. (They still exist.) Brooks argues for a centrist alternative presidential candidate in 2024.
The thing is his enthusiasm feels tempered at best. And if David Brooks isn’t excited by a very middle of the road political candidate it’s hard to see how anyone else will be. To his credit the columnist recognizes the problem.
It is interesting the degree to which Andrew Yang (above) appears to be advocating for a NEW thing as an alternative to old ways while Brooks seems to be advocating for something somewhere between George Bush I and Bill Clinton. That is, something very much of the old order.
From The New York Times
The first danger is that the No Labels candidate would draw more support away from the Democrats and end up re-electing Trump. This strikes me as a real possibility, though Jenny Hopkins, a No Labels activist from Colorado, tells me, “I find it easier to find Republicans who want to pull away from Trump than it is to find Democrats who want to pull away from Biden.”
The second danger is that the No Labels candidate fails to generate any excitement at all. Millions of Americans claim to dislike the two major parties, but come election time, they hold their noses and support one in order to defeat the party they hate more.
The last competitive third presidential option was Ross Perot in 1992. He ran as a clear populist outsider, not on the moderate “unity” theme that is at the heart of the No Labels effort. On the other hand, the gap between the two parties is much vaster today than when Perot ran against Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush. There is much more running room up the middle. Plus, the country is much hungrier for change. Only 13 percent of American voters say the country is on the right track.
This is one of those efforts that everybody looks at with skepticism at first. But if ever the country was ripe for something completely different, it’s now.
That appears to be true Mr. Brooks but is what you are advocating that different?
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The Fulcrum: Forward Party to endorse midterm candidates this week
It’s been a busy week for Andrew Yang and the Forward Party. Yang and company are wise to focus on “kitchen table” issues. This is where some opportunity lay for the upstart party.
(From The Fulcrum)
Unlike the Democratic and Republican parties, which usually develop platforms on policy issues (health care, the economy, immigration, etc.), the Forward Party is instead focused on electing “solutions oriented” candidates who support three concepts it has identified as “free people,” “thriving communities” and “vibrant democracy.”
“Tens of millions of Americans want a positive unifying third party movement in the country,” Yang said.
The data backs up Yang’s claim. Last week, Gallup released its last survey on third parties, finding that more than half (56 percent) of Americans believe a third major political party is necessary because the Democratic and Republican parties do a poor job representing the people.
EVENT
October 14 @ 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm MDT
Bridging Differences: Moving from Conflict to Collaboration
Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Location: In person/Online
877 West Main Street
Boise, ID, 83702Idaho Business for Education and the Idaho Chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government invite you to join us as Mediator, Conflict Coach, Speaker and Author Emily Taylor shares ideas about how to build bridges across differences and be more effective by using constructive conflict resolution principles in everyday life.
As an academic, author, and public speaker, Emily shares these principles to help bring peace and hope to individuals, families, and communities throughout the world.
Our purpose in co-hosting this seminar is to provide an opportunity for all in attendance to strengthen our skills and be more effective in dealing with differences in professional, community, and family life settings.
You can register to attend our event in person or via live stream . In person seating is limited and by ticket only – register early to secure a seat.
Location for those attending in person (by ticket – please register)
Wells Fargo Center – Vision Conference Room – 7th floor
877 West Main Street, Boise, ID, 83702